In his May 20 "inauguration address", "president" Chen Shui-bian played his old trick when he tried to hide his independence stance under gaudily decorated speech. But what is a sham remains a sham, and Chen's separatist nature can never be covered up no matter how exquisite his rhetoric disguise is.

There is only one China in the world, and both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one and the same China, this is both history and reality. The "One China" principle is the foundation and precondition for stabilizing and developing cross-Straits relations. Whether to accept One China or not is a touchstone of Chen's sincerity of improving and developing cross-Straits ties, as well as a standard to judge Chen's stand--whether to return to One China track or continue his independence pursuit. Chen's speech, although containing no expressions as "one country on each side", is filled in the full text by implications that "Taiwan is an independent state". Facts have proved that Chen Shui-bian didn't give up his splittist stance, nor did he really show any sincerity for improving cross-Straits ties. Therefore, the cause of tension across the Straits has not been removed and hidden peril affecting Asia-Pacific stability continues to exist.

Chen once declared that "The principles and promises (extended) in 2000 did not change during the past four years. Neither will they change in the next four years." However, as people see, in the past four years he broke his promises one after another, even openly declaring that the "five no's" had ceased to exist. As a matter of fact, just as the "May 17 Statement" pointed out, Chen has left Taiwan society deeply torn with his vicious mischaracterization of the popular will of the Taiwan people, his unbridled instigation of hostility and animosity towards the mainland, and his frenzied provocation to the status quo that both the mainland and Taiwan belong to the one and same China. He has even put out a timetable to move the island to independence through the making of a new constitution, thus pushing the cross-Straits relations to the brink of danger. Chen seemingly did not mention the time frame for writing a new "constitution" in 2006 and the referendum leading to "Taiwan Independence" but, instead, he used ambiguous words, like his "personal proposal" and "consensus has yet to be reached", to describe his stances on whether the sovereignty, territory and "the subject of unification/independence" be included in the "constitutional re-engineering", thus leaving room for going in for "Taiwan independence" through referendum on making a new constitution. All these demonstrated his stubborn ��one country on each side" standing. So far there has left no credibility for Chen Shui-bian and now what's important is to watch what he does, instead of what he says.

While Chen's declaring of "waging a holy war on China" is still lingering, he is now pretending advocating "peace across the Straits". He refrained from mentioning "One China", but talked glibly about building "interactive framework of cross-Straits peace" and setting up "cross-Straits peace development commission" and formulating "guidelines for cross-Straits peace development". All these are but a smoke screen to hide his intention to seek "peaceful splitting" of China and his independence scheme. People should never cherish any illusion on these high-sounding rhetoric. As the "May 17 Statement" pointed out, we will never compromise on the one-China principle, never give up our efforts for peace negotiations, never falter in our sincere pursuit of peace and development on both sides of the Straits with our Taiwan compatriots, never waver in our resolve to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and never put up with "Taiwan independence".

To the Chinese people, nothing is more important and more sacred than safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their country. We will do our utmost with the maximum sincerity to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification of the motherland. However, if Taiwan leaders should move recklessly to provoke major incidents of "Taiwan independence", the Chinese people will crush their schemes firmly and thoroughly at any cost.

The commentary is carried on the People's Daily newspaper, May 26, and translated by People's Daily Online